A typical work package we take on in stair building drafting outsourcing looks like this: a series of stairs in varying sizes, a production drawing per stair with elevations and sections, the detailing of the connections and an accompanying material schedule.
Most of it is a variation on the same theme. The build-up is always the same; only the dimensions, the height and the number of treads differ. That is exactly the kind of work that drains an in-house drawing office, because it demands attention but offers little challenge.
We are set up for that kind of volume. Our large, variable team is already in place and scales with each project, and everyone who drafts for us has more than ten years of CAD experience. We draft and model in our own environment with our own licences, and we do not do engineering. We respond to a new enquiry within 1 to 2 working days, and we can start as soon as we have enough information.
Cable tray routing in the model, built with parametric families that carry the material schedule with them.
What we deliver in stair building drafting
We deliver 2D drafting and, where it helps the project, 3D modelling. Specifically, this covers production drawings per stair, elevations and sections, flat patterns of landings and handrails, detail sheets of the connections to floor and wall, assemblies and the accompanying schedules. We also process changes in an existing set and produce as-built drawings when construction deviates from what was on paper. Exchange takes place via DXF, DWG, STEP and the Revit formats, and in practice we handle any common CAD format. STEP is often the bridge to a production package, so geometry from our model arrives there in a usable state.
For components that recur in quantities and variants, we build parametric Revit families. Such a smart component adapts to a different size or situation, and a drafter then places it in a single action instead of drawing it again. The material schedule updates along with it, so a changed dimension carries through to the schedule automatically. We deliver source files, not just exports, with your title block, layer structure and naming.
We would rather state what we do not do up front than afterwards. We do not make strength calculations, give structural advice or take design decisions. Whatever the structural engineer or work preparation engineer sets out, we work out down to sheet level. The intellectual property of everything we draw belongs to you, and you receive the complete files. We do not hold back any components and never deliver just a PDF, because a work preparation engineer cannot do anything with that if something needs to change later.
From first conversation to delivery of the drafting
Every project starts with a conversation in which we go through the job. You then supply the details, often together with existing drawings that need revising, your drawing conventions and a few sheets that serve as examples. We get more out of those sample sheets than out of a manual, because day-to-day practice almost always deviates from it. We read through the documents in full first and raise any contradictions we come across. Only then does Sam, our team leader, divide the work and the first block goes into production.
We deliver in parts, gather feedback, make adjustments and move on to the next block. For a series of stairs, that usually means the first two variants come back early. If their build-up is right, the rest of the series proceeds with much less discussion. If something needs to be different, it affects five sheets instead of fifty. We match the meeting rhythm to the pace of the project, from every two days to a fixed weekly moment.
Day-to-day contact runs via email, phone and meetings, and we visit you or welcome you at our office when that works faster. For standalone drafting work we exchange files by email, and for larger projects via software you can log into to follow the project. We bundle open questions into a short list with a proposal attached. That way, the investigative work stays on our side and meetings stay short.
No ongoing payroll costs and no idle staff once the peak is over. If one of our people is off sick or on holiday, we replace them and the work simply carries on.
When stair building drafting outsourcing pays off
Outsourcing pays off most clearly with volume and repetition. A series of thirty stairs that differ in size but share the same build-up takes weeks in-house and crowds out work only your own people can do. The same applies to a revision round on an existing set of DWGs, to an as-built file that is partly hand-drawn, and to cleaning up a family library that has become clogged up. Jobs like these often sit on a drawing office's list for months, because daily production always comes first. With us, they do not compete with it. There are also situations where your own team is better off keeping the work. If the drafting is full of decisions that can only be made in-house, more time goes into explaining than into drafting. If your CAD standards are not yet fixed, outsourcing is premature, because we draft to your conventions and cannot invent them ourselves.
And for a single sheet an experienced drafter can finish in an hour, the handover does not outweigh the gain. We would rather say so straight away than afterwards. If a team leader is unsure where the line lies, a small first assignment is the quickest way to find out. It shows him how quickly and accurately our team works and what the handover costs in practice, without a complete package being handed over straight away. If it works, we then scale up to the full volume. We do not ask for a minimum purchase, so you decide the size of that first assignment entirely yourself.
Outsourcing compared with a freelancer or a permanent drafter
A vacancy for a drafter first takes a recruitment round and then a familiarisation period before any output comes from it. If the peak is over by then, the wage costs remain while the work declines. With us, you pay no ongoing wage costs and our input drops when the volume drops. We do not use prepaid hour bundles or a monthly hours subscription, so nothing keeps running in a quiet month.
A self-employed professional is quicker to arrange and sometimes the logical choice, especially for a short, clearly defined job. The difference lies in what happens when things go wrong. Behind a freelancer there is one person, so in case of illness or holiday the work stops and nobody else knows the sheets.
With us, a colleague replaces him and the work carries on, using the agreements and reference sheets already in place. Then there is quality control. A self-employed professional checks his own work, whereas every sheet with us goes through at least three layers: a second team member checks the drafter, then Sam reviews it as team leader and Barry, our project manager, does the final check.
Scaling up also works differently, because we can put more people on a package without a recruitment round. Sam has more than fifteen years of background in architecture, worked in Iran for seven years, ran his own design practice in the Netherlands and still works as an engineer. He leads the CAD team and keeps the set consistent. You therefore have a fixed point of contact and no individual contractors to organise around.
Frequently asked questions about stair building drafting outsourcing
Hand your stair drafting over to us
Send us your documents and drawing conventions and we will let you know within one to two working days what we can take on and when.